Fenham girl, 10, will have to learn to walk again

IT all started with a slight limp but within weeks, little Francesca Jeffrey was unable to walk.

IT all started with a slight limp but within weeks, little Francesca Jeffrey was unable to walk.

The youngster was diagnosed with a rare crippling bone disease that affects just one in 10,000 girls, and often results in her relying on a wheelchair or crutches to get around.

But now the 10-year-old will undergo surgery, which will help her to enjoy life like any other child her age.

Francesca’s mum Tracey, of Fenham, Newcastle, said: “The surgeons are confident the operation will work and it will mean that Francesca won’t walk with a limp and will be able to do PE and sport like everyone else.

“Hopefully she can start and live life like everyone else her age. She is often in a lot of pain and hopefully that will go away after the operation.”

At just four years old, Tracey noticed Francesca had started to walk with a limp and weeks later she received a telephone call from her school to say she couldn’t walk.

Her symptoms baffled doctors but she was finally diagnosed with Perthes disease – a condition which causes the ball and socket joint in the hip to soften and break down.

Since her diagnosis, Francesca, a pupil at Stocksfield Avenue Primary School, has suffered severe pain, walks with a limp and is forced to miss out on PE lessons and school sports days.

She also undergoes physiotherapy, sessions in the hydrotherapy pool, and had her first operation last year, when a plate was fitted in her hip.

But Tracey, 43, hopes, the operation in March, which will remove the plate, will enable Francesca to live her life to the full.

Medics have told the family that the operation will improve Francesca’s walking and enable her to take part in sport.

Mum-of-three Tracey, a school cook at Kenton School, said: “When she was four we noticed she had a limp then one day she was at school and I got a phone call to say she couldn’t walk.

“She had an X-ray and we were told she had Perthes disease.

“We are just looking forward to the operation. She starts Kenton School in September and we were worried she wasn’t going to be able to take part in PE lessons or sport, but the surgeons have said she should be able to after the operation.”

Francesca is a huge X Factor fan and has gone to the show every year. This year, however, her family sold the tickets they had because they thought Francesca would have been recovering from the operation and unable to go.

They are now appealing for Chronicle readers to get in touch if they have any spare tickets. Anyone who can help the family, can call Tracey on 07796391471.

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